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17,643 farmers yet to get soil health cards
The soil health cards also help curb excess use of fertilisers which is detrimental to plant growth. In the process, cultivation costs can also be reduced. Based on the soil health card reports, fertilisers will be supplied to small and marginal farmers at a subsidy as per the requirement. The validity of a soil health card is three years from the date of issue.
Pithapuram: As many as 17,643 farmers are yet to get their soil health cards in the district though 53,643 soil samples were collected in May using the Global Positioning System for analysis.
Farmers were supposed to receive the cards by the first week of July as per schedule to enable them to reap a good harvest in Kharif through optimum use of fertilisers.
The soil health cards also help curb excess use of fertilisers which is detrimental to plant growth. In the process, cultivation costs can also be reduced. Based on the soil health card reports, fertilisers will be supplied to small and marginal farmers at a subsidy as per the requirement. The validity of a soil health card is three years from the date of issue.
About 36,000 soil health cards have so far been issued in the district in phases. At the same time, there are many mandals where not even a single soil health card has been issued so far.
Speaking to The Hans India, deputy director of Agriculture Lakshmana Rao attributed the delay in issuance of soil health cards to several factors. He said the delay in paddy harvesting last season was one of the reasons. The agricultural field needs to be empty and dry for collection of soil sample for analysis. It takes about 20 minutes to collect a sample from an agricultural field.
Non-availability of farmers in villages at the time of collection of soil samples, disruption of Internet services, GPS problems and staff shortage at the soil testing laboratory in Samalkot are some of the factors which caused the delay in issuance of soil health cards,” said Lakshmana Rao. He said steps have been taken to issue soil health cards to farmers in the next few days.
The issuance of soil health cards was delayed as the government had decided to make recommendations pertaining to the use of fertilisers, after the analysis of sample as part of the initiative. The recommendations help increase the average crop yield per acre,” said Padmasri, assistant director of Agriculture.
By:Saride Nageswara Rao
